Quartz mercury-vapor lamp



H. GEORGE.

QUARTZ MERCURY VAPOR LAMP.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 11, I919.

Patented Dec. 7, 1920.

' 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1- UNITED STATES PATENT err-ice.

HENRI GEORGE, O'F PARTS, FBANCIL.

eimn'rz uEacunY-vuon L'Aur.

To all whom it may concern. 1

Be it known that I, HENRI GEORGE, a citizen of the Republic of France and a resident of 167 Rue de Vaugirard, laris, France, have invented new and useful Improvements in Quartz Mercury-Vapor Lamps, of which the following is a specification.

Ordinary -mercury vapor lamps can onl work when a continuous current. is use The present invention relates to a quartzmercury vapor lamp that canwork wlth an alternating current; this result is obtained by utilizing, for starting the are, an inert gas such as nitrogen, neon or the like, the lamp working as a luminescence tube, until the mercury is vaporized'and the arc can pass through the mercury vapor.

A lamp apparatus constructed according to the invention, in one form, comprises reservoirs into which, as soon as normal working is attained, the inert gas will flow back and be retained so as not to diminish the efliciencyof the mercury arc.

The accompanying sheets of drawings represent diagrammatically, by way of examples, different ways of carrying out the invention. Figures 1, 2 and 3 are each an axial section, and show three difierent arrangements; and Fig. 4 is a section on an enlar ed scale, of a portion of a further modi cation. In the several figures 'corre sponding parts are denoted by the same ref erence numerals.

The lamp shown in Fig. 1 consists, essentially, of an illuminating quartz tube 1 connecting two small reservoirs or chambers 2 filled with mercury. These chambers are provided with electrodes 3, formed of tungsten wire 4 set in the quartz. The lamp contains an atmosphere of inert gas under a pressure of some centimeters of mercury. This pressure depends upon the diameter of the illuminating tube, for example, for a tube having an lnternal diameter of 15 mm., a mercury column of 1 cm. suffices. At each extremity of the tube 1 there is connected a reservoir 5. The lamp is mounted directly on the terminals of an alternating circuit whose voltage is in keeping with the nature of the gas constituting the atmosphere within the lamp; thus by employing an atmosphere of neon gas, the voltage can be 500 volts; this voltage can be increased if nitroen be employed. It is well to have a selfmductance in series, but this is not absolutely necessary.

.the mercury vapor for Specification of Letters Patent. 1 Patented D 7 1920 Application filed April 11, 1919. Serial 3N0. 289,330.

The functioning is as follows: On the closing of the interrupter, the tube is immediately lighted'up as a luminescence tube, the' arc passing through the inert gas atmosphere. The mercury which constitutes the electrode is at once vaporized; the intensity increases and passes from the order of luminescence to that of the arc in mercury vapor. The internal pressure exceeds 1 kilogram per square centimeter, and the arc assumes the form of a very brilliant cord. The presence of the inert gas necessary for starting off, should, it would seem, lower the efiiciency of the mercury arc, but experience shows t at, with the arrangement used, the gas and mercur vapor do not mix and that the gas tends, uring the working, to localize itself apart from the arc in the cool portion of the tube. The gas localizes itself then in the reservoir 5, provided to receive it, and the illuminating tube will only con- "tain vapor of mercury; these reservoirs thus In the arrangement of Fig. 2, the lamp is constructed for working in a vertical osition; the upper electrode 3 is formed y a tungsten plate 6.

In the arrangement of Fig.3, the two electrodes are'formed by tun sten blades 7, and ibrming the arc is produced by small quantities of mercu 8 situated in the neighborhood of the e ectrodes 7 in appropriate receptacles.

These lamps are suited for all usages and in particular for industrial lightin and the production of ultra-violet rays For all purposes.

Fig. t represents a form preferably employed for the construction of the lamp according to the inventionl The wire 4 traverses the quartz andconducts current to a spherical bulb 10 full of mercury and communicating with the chamber 2, containing also mercury, by the opening 11 arranged in the side of the bulb farther from the so-called illuminating tube 1. This arrangement has-for its object to avoid, in case of the diminution of volume of the mercury in reservoir 2, the non-startelectrodes is heated more than the other,

mercury accumulates on the cool electrode; the mercury so condensed leads the end of the arc into the straight and narrow portion 9 of the tube. The mercury becomes more heated and the quantity which was condensed on the cooler electrode is vaporized and transferred to the other electrode where the level of the mercury has been lowered and is also cooler.

When the lamp is extinguished, the inter nal pressure falls and the mercury of the electrodes commences to boil; the illuminating tube 1 is suitably curved'so that the dro s of mercuryprojected at this moment of oiling into the illuminating tube Will return to their place in 2 for the subsequent lighting.

The reservoirs 5, in which accumulates the inert gas serving for the starting pas sage of the arc, are connected to the illuminating tube lby restrictions 13 in order that the arc ma not enterthe reservoirs.

It is evi nt that, without departing from the principle ofthe invention, a large number of detail modifications in regard to the construction of the mercury vapor lamp can be made.

Having thus described the nature of the said invention and the best means I know for carryingthe same into practical effect,[

I claim:

A mercury vapor lamp operated by means of an alternating current, comprising an illuminating quartz tube, a chamber containing mercury at each end of said tube, a spherical bulb, full of mercury, located within said chamber and communicating therewith b means of an opening arranged in the sai' bulb in the slde opposite the illuminating tube, a wire leading the alternating current into said spherical bulb through a quartz seal, an atmosphere of inert gas under pressure filling the'illuminating tube for starting the'passage of the arc until' the mercury be vaporized and the I are can pass through the mercury vapor, reservoirs provided on the illuminating tube for receiving said inert'gas after starting and during normal functioning of the lamp, the said chambers, filledwith mercury at both ends of the illuminatin tube, communicating with the illuminatm tube only by a restricted passage with thick walls.

1 testimony whereof I have signed my name to this. specification.

' HENRI GEORGE.

-Witnesses:-

CHARLES Jomr, H. DnmivRIMoN'r. 

